Pompey 3-2 Barnsley: John Mousinho's post-match reaction as Blues secure League One title

The News, Portsmouth

An emotional John Mousinho chats to The News after guiding Pompey to the League One title in his first full season in charge at Fratton Park.

Transcript

00:00 So here we are with John Massino, the manager, the head coach of the League One champions.

00:08 What an evening.

00:09 Yeah, I mean an incredible evening. It wasn't great for 85 minutes, so I know I need to

00:16 just get over it and put the performance in the bin. And I will at some point, because

00:20 I really don't care too much. But the scenes at the end, the last 15 minutes were absolutely

00:25 incredible. It was without a doubt the last 15 minutes, the best atmosphere I've ever

00:29 experienced in football. It obviously helped that we got the equaliser and then the fans

00:35 could sense what was coming. But brilliant, brilliant night and nothing more than the

00:39 fans have deserved.

00:40 Has it sunk in?

00:41 Not yet. It honestly hasn't. It's one of those things that I think will take a bit of time

00:46 and the best thing I think about tonight is the fact we've got two more games to enjoy

00:50 it. Sometimes I think you achieve anything at the end of the season and all of a sudden

00:54 you're back in on Monday morning speaking to players and talking about contract finishes.

00:57 We don't have to do any of that. We can enjoy it for the next 10 days. And I think that's

01:00 very, very special. And to be fair to the boys, I said it in change room there, to achieve

01:04 what we've achieved, to win the league with two games to spare is an absolutely remarkable

01:08 achievement. It's honestly a remarkable achievement. I think I've been promoted before with two

01:13 games to spare and won the league on the last day of the season. I thought that was some

01:16 going. This is just in a different stratosphere.

01:19 I was speaking to Joe Perdomo earlier on saying you still aren't for 100 points. He doesn't

01:22 care. Would you like 100 points?

01:24 I'd love 100 points to be honest. If you asked me at the 81st minute, I'd have said all I

01:32 want is a draw from tonight or for the Shrewsbury game to finish up at Bolton. We were aware

01:38 of the score there on about the 94th minute which relieved a bit of the pressure. But at

01:41 that point we were like, OK, let's win the league. Let's try and win the league. It was

01:45 a bit of a chaotic game, a chaotic night, but just fantastic.

01:50 You introduced Christian Sadie in the 79th minute in your fifth and final substitution.

01:54 Was that just a lacer of the dice to try and get a point from this?

01:57 If you'd have asked me then, obviously, we were trying to get a point at that point. When

02:05 the penalty went in, I did think we could win the game. So introducing Christian I think

02:12 just sums up where we are as a squad this season. Christian played here against Leighton Orient

02:19 the last game we lost. He came off at half-time, he found himself out of squads. Difficult

02:25 time that he had and then to produce what he's produced, come off the bench and playing

02:29 games, he was just able to lose his place in the starting line-up a couple of games,

02:32 but to do what he's done, I think that just sums up. I'm singling Christian out because

02:37 it just sums up where we are as a squad in terms of everybody that's contributed. There

02:40 are a load of lads in track suits tonight that have contributed a huge amount to the

02:44 season and I feel sorry for them that they haven't been able to play a part because

02:48 it's such a special occasion, but they all deserve a huge amount of credit. So for Christian

02:52 to come in and do that was amazing. For Colby to take that penalty, all my life, to have

02:57 missed two this season and to finish it as he did, it just sums him up, it sums up the

03:05 boys. And then to go and get that goal, we've seen that goal a few times I think. Got a

03:10 shot to see at Flatiron Park at least a couple of times. The other game, Wiccan at High Marmour,

03:16 the place nearly erupted. It was just very, very special.

03:23 Christian, you needed something to change the game with inspiration, that was Christian.

03:27 It was Christian. I thought we were so poor tonight. I honestly, I'll get over it at some

03:31 point, the performance. Very, very quickly I'm starting to get over it now because it's

03:36 a night of frustration. And Barnsley are a really good side, of course there's a few

03:40 problems with them. Of course there's a lot of problems, but to come back the way we did,

03:44 to not get our heads down, to not worry too much about everything that went on.

03:48 You say you're poor, was it nerves, was it edginess, was it the occasion?

03:52 I thought a bit of it was because we had players doing things that we wouldn't normally do.

03:58 So people have asked me already tonight, does that performance sum up where you are this

04:02 season, in terms of the comeback in a positive way? In some ways it does because you came

04:05 back in the 8th or 5th minute or whatever it was and we won the game. But in other ways

04:09 it doesn't because we've actually deserved everything that we've got this year, which

04:14 is for the most part we've been very, very good in guard. In the last two games, honestly

04:19 it's the first time I thought we've got away with a couple there. Maybe it was the occasion,

04:25 how close everything is. But again, to be able to come over the point at Bolton on Saturday

04:30 and then to do what we did tonight, just blows me away.

04:33 You've won promotion as a player, was that twice is it?

04:35 Four times.

04:36 Four times, sorry! Delete, delete!

04:41 Don't delete, keep it in!

04:43 End of season bloopers, four times. How does that compare to being a head coach winning

04:49 the promotion?

04:50 It doesn't get close. Just being a head coach and being responsible for everything in the

04:57 football club, that's the way I feel. It was great, brilliant as a player, loved it as

05:02 a player but I don't think anything gets close. Maybe part of that's being at Portsmouth and

05:08 part of that is being at Portsmouth at this time in the club's history. With everything

05:14 that happened last season, with the appointment, with the disappointment towards the end of

05:19 the year, the expectation that we just completely fall off a cliff in January, which was fine

05:25 because we've had so many seasons of disappointment. It's an amazing feeling to do it as head coach.

05:32 It certainly feels at the moment like the best achievement of my career.

05:38 Your greatest achievement in football?

05:39 I think so, yes. It feels like that. I don't know why but it does and I think everyone

05:46 probably will get that, being a head coach. I hope there's many more and I hope there's

05:51 many more at this football club.

05:52 Quite emotional at the end, was it?

05:54 You know what, it was. It's a bit cliché but I feel extremely happy for the boys obviously

06:03 because they've put a huge amount of hard work in. You guys are out there in Spain in

06:07 pre-season. There's so much that goes on in terms of what the lads do, coming back fit.

06:14 46 games, obviously they've played 44, 46 games in the league season. It's just an incredible

06:20 grind to go again and again and again and again. It's much easier to just be a mid-table

06:24 side or be down the bottom. It's relentless winning games week after week after week.

06:29 I'm delighted for the boys. Like I spoke about the squad there, I'm delighted for the football

06:35 club right the way up to the top. My first game against Exeter, the plane flew over.

06:41 Eisner's no plan, no ambition. We knew at the time there was a definite plan and a huge

06:46 amount of ambition. I'm delighted for the owners, they took a perceived big risk in

06:51 bringing me in. At the time I'd spoken about this loads and didn't think it would happen

06:57 but for Andy Cullen, Tony Bowne and ultimately Rich to say this is the guy we want to take

07:04 a football club for, I'm just delighted for them because there was a lot of pressure on

07:08 them when this appointment was made. And then everybody else in the football club, 95% of

07:14 the staff here reports with fans. They've been long-suffering as well. And then talking

07:18 about long-suffering, the fans. I've gone through a lot of people there. We spoke about

07:24 it the other day, I do feel there's a really good connection with the fans. To go through

07:32 what's happened at the football club, to be at the top, Premier League, FA Cup 16 years

07:38 ago, to win that, to be hours away from liquidation, hours away from dropping out of the league

07:44 and then to come back and experience this. Honestly, this time last year we were probably

07:49 speaking at the Gershwin at Oxford Stadium when you could feel the frustration of the

07:53 fans for the seventh season in League One and everything that it meant to the football

07:57 club to actually try and get out of the league. I felt that, I got it. It probably took me

08:02 a few months but I really felt it living down here, I really feel it. I'm just absolutely

08:07 buzzing for those fans because they have been very, very long-suffering and I hope

08:11 that they can enjoy it.

08:12 Congratulations, John. You've taken Pompidou to the top this year.

08:14 Thank you very much, Neil.

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